Last week it was reported that Harrison Ford was in talks to appear in a second Blade Runner film.  The problem is that it seems no one had gotten around to telling Ridley Scott, the director of the original film and potentially for the follow-up.  Entertainment Weekly caught up with the famous director and got the chance to have him clarify exactly what is going on and where the film is in the development process.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What can you tell me about the Blade Runner project?
RIDLEY SCOTT: We’re still in discussions about whether it should be a prequel or sequel. It’s an interesting conversation. I’m meeting with writers and I’ve also gone back to [original Blade Runner screenwriter] Hampton Fancher and he still speaks the speak. He’s right there. I spoke with him this week. But we don’t even have a script yet.

Did you hear about the rumors online that you were supposedly in talks with Harrison Ford to be in it?
No. Don’t know yet. Don’t know yet.

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But you wouldn’t rule it out?
Absolutely not. But I’m not sure that that’s going to be a story point, so I don’t know. But if it were, nothing would please me more. Honestly.

But it sounds like you don’t even know yet if there would be a Rick Deckard character?
No. I don’t know.

So, right now, all there is is the concept of doing a Blade Runner film? Nothing more than that?
Right. I just thought Prometheus was so enjoyable — returning to the world of science fiction was so fun — that I wanted to [go back to Blade Runner, too]. I’m also thinking about what the hell I might do for a Prometheus 2.

Do you think there will be one?
[Knocks the wood coffee table and grins]

So, you’re working with absolutely no clue where this film is going?  One would usually hope if you’re going to go ahead with a follow-up to one of the most influential movies in a genre, one would hope they would know they had an amazing idea for it before any movement happened on it.  If you go the sequel route you have the potential to really mess up what people walked away from the original with (the nature of Ford’s character); and if you go with a prequel, at least do the background on what caused Deckard to lose his badge with a follow-up of the android’s arriving on earth.

Either way, it doesn’t matter.  If you want to do a Blade Runner 2, do it, but make sure you have some sort of clue what you’re doing before anyone walks around talking about it.

Post from: SeanPAune.com

Blade Runner 2 Still Isn’t Sure to be a Sequel or a Prequel

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On October 15, 2011, Luis Suarez of Uruguay was accused of using racial slurs against Patrice Evra of France during a soccer match between Liverpool and Manchester United. Following an investigation by the FA, Suarez was found guilty and handed an eight game suspension along with a £40,000 (approx. $63,000 USD) fine.

It just so happened that Suarez’s first game back on the pitch would be Liverpool facing Manchester United at Old Trafford, the latter’s home field.  As tradition dictates, the two teams starting line-ups will shake hands prior to kick-off, and much had been written about whether the two men would follow the tradition.  Both team’s managers said that they indeed would, but apparently something changed at the last moment for Suarez.

As you can see in the video, Suarez elected to skip shaking the hand of Patrice Evra and went on to goal keeper David De Gea.  Evra attempts to pull Suarez back to give him another chance, but he shakes him off and moves on to Rio Ferdinand, who elects not to shake his hand.  (Ferdinand’s brother had been caught up in another racial altercation of late on the England national team that led to the dismissal of some of the top brass.)

Reports indicate that at halftime Evra attempted to approach Suarez outside the locker rooms to discuss matters, and the two teams nearly came to blows with police and stewards being called to the tunnel to break it up. If true, it would explain why Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney came back on to the field on fire and scored two goals in the span of three minutes leading to the final score of 2 – 1 for the home team.

Post-match Evra went overboard in his celebrations, including doing it in front of Suarez to the point that he was guided away by the referee, and it looked as though the two teams may explode into a fist fight.

Sir Alex Ferguson, manager of Manchester United said of the pre-game incident during an interview, ”He is a disgrace to Liverpool Football Club.  He shouldn’t be able to play for Liverpool again.”

All of this just begs me to ask the question of what has happened to sportsmanship.  Suarez can complain all day long about his punishment, but in the end he was found guilty by the ruling body of football, and it’s done.  His actions pre-game were not only childish, but potentially dangerous as he was on the home field of Man United with a stadium filled with fired up fans.  He could have quite possibly put not only his own life in danger, but those of his teammates as well.  Suarez was booed every time he came in to contact with the ball, and at least once it was believed something was thrown towards him from the stands while he was on the sidelines.

And I don’t just blame Suarez.  Evra’s post-game antics were tasteless.  He had the opportunity to walk away the bigger man, and instead he hopped around the field like an insane rabbit in an obvious attempt to goad Suarez and rub the team’s victory in his face.  It was very unsporting of him and, in some ways, I feel it made him look just as bad as the handshake incident that started today’s insanity.

No one is coming out of this smelling like roses, that’s for sure.  And it just adds fuel to the fire that athletes are over paid babies.  Suarez began all of this in October, and you can’t let it die by February?  What are you, 12?  Get over it, you messed up, you did your time, you move on.  As for Evra … just stop.  You have to let it die.

Post from: SeanPAune.com

Luis Suarez – Patrice Evra Handshake: Where Has Sportsmanship Gone?

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On the eve of releasing Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace in 3D, the father of all things Star Wars, George Lucas, answered five questions with The Hollywood Reporter.  One of them was about the changes he makes to his movies, and how he views them compared to the way the fans do.  In particular he was asked about the whole “Han Shot First” controversy.

THR: People can get fanatical about the movies — how does that make you feel? The puppet vs. CGI Yoda ruckus, and the who-shot-first, Han Solo or Greedo furor come to mind.

Lucas: Well, it’s not a religious event. I hate to tell people that. It’s a movie, just a movie. The controversy over who shot first, Greedo or Han Solo, in Episode IV, what I did was try to clean up the confusion, but obviously it upset people because they wanted Solo [who seemed to be the one who shot first in the original] to be a cold-blooded killer, but he actually isn’t. It had been done in all close-ups and it was confusing about who did what to whom. I put a little wider shot in there that made it clear that Greedo is the one who shot first, but everyone wanted to think that Han shot first, because they wanted to think that he actually just gunned him down. [...]

The confusion? Here is how the scene appeared in the original edit of the film.

I’m sorry, but is anyone confused about what happened here? Yes, the sub-tittles for Greedo are missing, but I think you can still get the point of what is happening here. Are you in any way confused about what you just saw?

You know, I really don’t care if Lucas wants to change every single shot in the films, its his right to do so.   And here’s how he defended that decision in the interview:

If you look at Blade Runner, it’s been cut sixteen ways from Sunday and there are all kinds of different versions of it. Star Wars, there’s basically one version — it just keeps getting improved a little bit as we move forward. … All art is technology and it improves every year. Whether it’s on the stage or in music or in painting, there are technological answers that happen, and because movies are so technological, the advances become more obvious.

Here’s the problem with that defense … I can buy any one of the sixteen cuts of Blade Runner that I want to. If I want the original theatrical cut, it’s out there. If I want to buy the Director’s Cut, it’s out there. Tell me, Mr. Lucas, can you tell me when the original theatrical cut of any of the original trilogy are coming to DVD or Blu-ray? Oh, that’s right, they aren’t.

Do whatever you want, Lucas, but don’t make lame excuses to try to explain away your poor decisions.  There was absolutely nothing confusing to the original Han/Greedo scene.  By the way, the original script also seems to have been pretty clear on what happened:

GREEDO: You can tell that to Jabba. He may only take your ship.

HAN: Over my dead body.

GREEDO: That’s the idea. I’ve been looking forward to killing you for
a long time.

HAN: Yes, I’ll bet you have.

Suddenly the slimy alien disappears in a blinding flash of light. Han pulls his smoking gun from beneath the table as the other patron look on in bemused amazement. Han gets up and starts out of the cantina, flipping the bartender some coins as he leaves.

HAN: Sorry about the mess.

So, George, just stop keep digging your grave.  It doesn’t help you’re case with the people who made you the billionaire you are today.  Change whatever you want, just don’t insult our intelligence.

Post from: SeanPAune.com

George Lucas Only Tired to Clean Up “Confusion” with Han and Greedo

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First appearing on the Web as a random video in 2008, people were immediately captivated by it’s very simple concept: What if some Nazi’s escaped to the dark side of the Moon and set up a base?  Eventually they would come back, and want revenge.

Okay, fine, lets ignore the fact that they would have next to no body mass … and that gravity would mess with them … and how did they build their base?  We’re just going to ignore all that … it’s Nazis … in space.  How can you not immediately rule this as awesome?

What has changed in the recent past is that it appears the film got into a bit of political commentary as you can see in the most recent trailer.  It isn’t what I was nitially interested in, but I still want to see this movie.

Here’s another teaser that explains a bit more of the story.

And here’s the video that started it all. As you can see, things have changed a bit, but it still appears to be awesome.

The film opens on April 4 in limited release.

Post from: SeanPAune.com

Iron Sky Finally Makes it Way to Theaters

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First up was The Avengers with a new commercial during the Super Bowl that brought us a lot of new footage.  We still don’t get a clear shot at who is working with Loki, but there are numerous theories floating around out there.

Next up is The Amazing Spider-Man which shows just how far off book the new movie is going … and it’s pretty darn far. Peter finishing The Lizard formula? His father having worked at Oscorp?  Why do they constantly insist on messing around with these origin stories is beyond me, but here we go yet again.

The Avengers hits theaters on May 4, and The Amazing Spider-Man on July 3.  (And both are based on comics from Marvel if you didn’t get my earlier joke …)

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The Avengers and The Amazing Spider-Man Promise a Marvelous Summer

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2000 A.D. released some new still from the upcoming new Judge Dredd film that show off some new shots of Karl Urban as the title character, and our first real looks at Olivia Thirlby as Psi Judge Anderson.  While the new photos give me more of the grimy, dirty feel this dystopian future should come with, I still just can’t get over how silly the helmet is looking.

The producers have promised this film will be more faithful than the last outing and that we won’t see Dress remove his helmet, and we won’t see him kissing the female lead at the end.  At least those are steps in the right direction.

Karl Urban in his father’s helmet?  At least the chin is working.

Psi Judge Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) teams up with Judge Dredd.

Dredd fires his Lawgiver.  At least we finally see the eagle at shows up in some form on his armor.

Anderson dispenses judgement?  (I’d say the shot came from elsewhere … such as from Dredd)  The Psi Judges are telepaths and empaths, while they do some of the work of a regular Judge, they are not typically around for street duty.

The film comes out September 21 in both 2D and 3D.

Post from: SeanPAune.com

New Judge Dredd Images Bring Both Hope and Fear

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Chronicle, the latest in the “found footage” genre, ended up winning out the weekend with $22 million at the box office. With a smallish budget of $12 million, and probably the least amount of advertising I’ve seen in some time for a film, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that this film is already in the black.  While I’ve gotten fairly annoyed with the found footage film style, this one at least breathed some new life into the idea by being about kids who get super powers instead of your usual attempt at horror.

Coming in second with $21 million was the new Daniel Radcliffe horror film, The Woman in Black.  Analysts were predicting some healthy numbers for this film, so coming in second is sure to have surprised at least a few people, especially when it was beaten by a fairly unknown film.

Dropping 51.7 percent from last weekend to come in third was the Liam Nesson vehicle, The Grey.  The film brought in $9.5 million to bring its domestic total to $34.7 million.

Big Miracle, a new family-friendly film about whales, came in with $8.5 million, which is pretty anemic considering its $40 million budget.  Family films tend to hold on better at the box office than most other properties, so we’ll have to see how this one fares over the long term.

Rounding out the top five was Underworld Awakening, slipping another 54.7 percent, but it still brought in a pretty healthy $5.6 million.  This franchise just does not want to seem to die off, which, I must admit, does surprise me a bit.

There’s four decent sized releases next week, so get ready for Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Safe House, The Vow and, sadly, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (in 3D).

Post from: SeanPAune.com

Chronicle Barely Flies into First at the Box Office

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News of a Blade Runner sequel has been circulating since last March, and I made it fairly clear back then all the reasons I found this to be a bad idea.  I won’t rehash all of the reasons here, but my opinion of this idea hasn’t changed one iota in the interim.  So I’m sure you could imagine my delight when I read that Harrison Ford may be in early talks to make an appearance in the sequel.

According to Twitch Film, the belief has been that only Ridley Scott would return from the original, but now there is word that Harrison Ford may indeed be in early talks to reprise one of his most famous roles.  If true, this is a complete contradiction to what  Alcon Entertainment producer Andrew Kosove told the Los Angeles Times this past August,

In no way do I speak for Ridley Scott but if you’re asking me will this movie have anything to do with Harrison Ford, the answer is no. This is a total reinvention and in my mind that means doing everything fresh, including casting.

My big issue with this whole rumor is that Twitch Movie only says it has “learned” of these talks, but makes absolutely no mention of how they did so.  Was it a source close to Ford?  Was it a source close to Alcon?  Was it the homeless guy who lives in the stove box by the door of the studio?  There is just no indication of how they came about obtaining this information.

For now I’m definitely taking this with a grain of salt.  Depending on which version of the original film you watch, you walk away wondering if Deckard was a replicant himself, which would lead you to believe he wouldn’t age.  If he comes back as Ford currently looks then you’d have no question he was human.  Or would they use the same technology Tron Legacy did to make him young?  Either way it takes some of the mystery out of the original, and that’s just not something I think anyone wants.

[via Twitch Film]

Post from: SeanPAune.com

Harrison Ford Returning for Blade Runner 2?

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Preston was taken into custody on Tuesday, but has since made bail which, according to the Ledger-Enquirer, came to $25,000 each on two counts of child molestation and $10,000 each on one count of sexual assault on a person in custody and one count of enticing a child for indecent purposes.  Upon her release she resigned from her position with Veterans Memorial Middle School.  She had taught special education in the school district for 19 years.

Apparently the entire series of events happened very quickly.  Reports indicate that the statutory rape occurred at 12:30 AM on Monday in Cooper Creek Park in Columbus, GA, and by 10 PM on Monday the police were called to the boy’s home.  The following day Preston was taking into custody.

Should Preston be convicted on all charges, and her terms stacked consecutively, she is facing up to 120 years in prison.  The count of sexual assault on a person in custody is applied to any teacher and student from the same school, and that charge alone carries 25 to 50 years.

There is no word yet as to what evidence there was to make authorities act so quickly.

[Thanks to Jo for the tip]

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Teacher Cristina Preston Faces Sexual Allegations with 14-Year-Old Student

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Some thoughts on the future of the show.

My thoughts on teachers gone wrong.

Movie news, as always.
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Yes, I’m still working on this silly embedding issue.

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Scattercast Episode #175: I Don’t Wanna Get Sued

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